The present invention is related to an improved data transmission system and more particularly to a system for enabling senders to customize protocols for handling and delivering their transmissions. A more particular aspect of the present invention is related to enabling intermediary servers to provide the functionality for the handling and delivery of the sender-customized transmissions.
The rapid increase in both the variety and popularity of pervasive systems, including Personal Data Assistants (PDA) (e.g. the product sold by IBM under the trademark of WorkPad) has led to a corresponding increase in the need for the methods of directing and filtering data transmissions. Although many tools have been developed enabling the receivers of transmissions to customize what is delivered to them and how, senders have not been provided the same level of support. For example, proxies such as the web proxies enable both recipients and the administrators to specified content manipulation and routing. xe2x80x9cMethod for Collaborative Transformation and Caching of Web Objects in a Proxy Networkxe2x80x9d by P. Yu et al., U.S. Pat. No. 6,122,666 describes a method by which recipients can request intermediary proxy servers to translate requested web pages in specified languages. xe2x80x9cCollaborative Server Processing of Content and Meta-Information with Application to Virus Checking in a Server Networkxe2x80x9d by B. Hailpern et al., U.S. Pat. No. 6,275,937 provides a method by which both end recipients and proxy administrators can have requested web pages checked for viruses. In addition, xe2x80x9cDynamic Push Filtering with Staging/Buffering in a Proxy Hierarchyxe2x80x9d, by B. Hailpern, et al., U.S. Pat. No. 6,065,058 presents methods by which end users and proxy administrators can filter the pushed information, i.e., information transmitted using the HTTP PUSH method, delivered to end users. Although these methods allow receivers and intermediaries to customize what is to be delivered and to whom, senders still have no capability to specify any delivery customizations.
In addition, while the existing products, such as MCI-One, allow users to set up lists of devices to which transmissions sent to them should be routed and prioritize the lists of such devices, e.g., phone, pager, fax, e-mail, these products do not offer the sender a capability to customize delivery.
In Armando Fox, et. al, xe2x80x9cAdapting to Network and Client Variability via On-Demand Dynamic Distillation,xe2x80x9d In Proceedings of ASPLOS-VII, Boston, Mass. (October 1996), methods for performing on-demand datatype-specific lossy compression on semantically typed data, and tailoring content to the specific constraints of the client are shown. Moreover, Distillation Servers, e.g., InfoPyramid, while enabling receivers and intermediate servers, e.g., proxies, to modify the transmitted data depending on both the characteristics of the target device and communications path to it, such methods still do not allow senders to customize the delivery of transmissions which are originated by the senders.
In addition, products such as xe2x80x9cMY Yahooxe2x80x9d allow users to specify the information in which they are interested and would like to receive. With the specified preferences for the information, My Yahoo presents a customized web page to the users when an appropriate connection is established. Users can also be notifiedxe2x80x94e.g., via e-mailxe2x80x94whenever information in which they are likely to be interested is posted, effectively enabling a given user to customize the information that is sent to them, i.e., enabling a user to customize the transmissions they themselves receive. However, My Yahoo still does not enable a sender to customize the transmission delivered to another user. Therefore, it is highly desirable to provide a method and apparatus enabling a sender to specify handling and delivery policies for transmissions sent to other users, at least one of which being distinct from the sender himself.
In accordance with the aforementioned needs, the present invention is directed to a method and apparatus enabling both the specification and implementation of sender specified delivery policies. Specifically, in a computer network of heterogeneous nodes including receiving devices having potentially different capabilities, the present invention provides a method for senders to specify content delivery policies by enabling a sender to associate a delivery policy with a transmission content to be communicated to one or more receiving devices. In response to the association, the delivery policy and associated content are then communicated to the one or more receiving devices based on sender-specified policies. In addition, methods are also provided for enabling a transmissionxe2x80x94including the handling instructions, or policiesxe2x80x94to be passed to another server for processing by sending transmissions with the handling instructions, and providing a proxy server for receiving the transmission, and breaking the transmitted data into its component parts, determining how each component should be handled, and delivering each component to the receiving devices in the specified manner.
The present invention includes methods for identifying the data components of transmissions based on data types. The data types may include, e.g., ASCII text, or GIF image file. The identification of the data components may also be based on XML, which is described in Tim Bray, Jean Paoli, and C. M. Sperberg-McQueen editors, xe2x80x9cExtensible Markup Language (XML), World Wide Web Consortium Dec. 8, 1997, and MIME, which is described in N. Borenstrein, et. al., xe2x80x9cMultipurpose Internet Mail Extensions (MIME) Part One: Format of Internet Message Bodies,xe2x80x9d RFC 2045, November, (1996) document structuring.
According to still another aspect of the present invention, the factors with which a sender may qualify their delivery policies include: Time/Date, functional periods of time (e.g., xe2x80x9cDuring work;xe2x80x9d); situation (e.g., xe2x80x9cwhen recipient is at a meeting . . .xe2x80x9d); Cost (e.g., xe2x80x9cDon""t send faxes if they will cost more than $1.00 to transmitxe2x80x9d); whether transmission may be forwarded (e.g., to home LAN, or to a secretary); capability of the receiving device, including the device type (e.g., pager, fax, PDA), network reliability, network speed, display capabilities (e.g., color, and number of pixels), audio capabilities (e.g., stereo sound), and securable transmission path (e.g., using IPSec).
Methods are also provided enabling a sender to specify particular transmissions to be redirected to another user, or copied to more than one device based on policies. For example, xe2x80x9cwhenever a FAX is sent to a client""s lawyer, fax a copy to the client as well.xe2x80x9d Similarly, a method is provided by which sender may specify an ordered set of devices in the sender""s policies, e.g., xe2x80x9csend transmission during work hours to (phone@work, FAX@work, e-mail)xe2x80x9d so that given transmissions are routed to the first available device in the list.
The present invention also include methods enabling a sender to indicate that certain components be masked when being transmitted to devices with particular constraints. For example, xe2x80x9cdon""t send highly sensitive information over insecure paths.xe2x80x9d According to still another aspect of the present invention, a sender""s customization policies may be indicated using the Platform for Internet Content Selection (PICS) or the Resource Description Framework (RDF), which policies may be included within the transmission itself, e.g., in the Simple Mail Transfer Protocol (SMTP) or the Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP) headers. A detailed description of the PICS may be found in J. Miller, ed. Et al., xe2x80x9cPICS Label Distribution Label Syntax and Communication Protocols.xe2x80x9d The RDF is described in detail in D. Brickley, ed. et. al, xe2x80x9cResource Description Framework (RDF) Schema Specification,xe2x80x9d and in O. Lassila, ed. et. al, xe2x80x9cResource Description Framework (RDF) Model and Syntax Specification.xe2x80x9d A further method enables the policies to be retrieved from a remote server, e.g., by including a policy pointer in an SMTP header indicating a Uniform Resource Locator (URL) of the sender""s PICS delivery policy label. As well known to the persons in the skilled art, SMTP is used for Internet mail, and HTTP is the xe2x80x9cnativexe2x80x9d protocol of the World Wide Web, designed specifically to transmit hypertext over networks.
According to still another aspect of the present invention, a method is provided enabling notifications of transmissions to be generated based on policies. For example, xe2x80x9cwhenever an urgent note is sent to a client, send the client a page notifying them of the transmission.xe2x80x9d These notifications may be message specific, e.g., xe2x80x9cyou have received urgent e-mail from Paul Horn.xe2x80x9d
Methods are also provided in the present invention for allowing policy constraints to include abstract terms, e.g., Devices@Home=Phone@home, FAX@home, e-mail, pager. Similarly, methods are included for supporting the definition and use of qualitative characterization of transmissions, e.g. xe2x80x9cbusiness-related,xe2x80x9d xe2x80x9cfinancial,xe2x80x9d xe2x80x9cfamily-related,xe2x80x9d or xe2x80x9cpersonal,xe2x80x9d in the transmission customization policies.
According to still another aspect of the present invention, methods are included enabling policies to be digitally signed, thus enabling the authentication. The digital signatures may be effected by utilizing the DSIG 1.0 which is described in Yang-hua Chu, et. al, xe2x80x9cDSig 1.0 Signature Label Specification, Using PICS 1.1 Labels for Making Signed Assertions.xe2x80x9d The present invention also provides a method by which a transmission data may be encrypted in a policy-specified manner before being sent to a particular device, e.g., xe2x80x9czip data before sending to modem-connected home computer.xe2x80x9d
Further features and advantages of the present invention as well as the structure and operation of various embodiments of the present invention are described in detail below with reference to the accompanying drawings. In the drawings, like reference numbers indicate identical or functionally similar elements.